Hmmm, let's see what I can scrounge up this week! It doesn't seem like a whole lot happened this week on the 'stead but, I'm sure something interesting has come about... OH right! Yes!

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Chickens

So these three Welsummers have been making me lead them back to the coop daily. They somehow make it all the way around the fences, and near the front of the house. I often hear them bellowing and making tons of noise over "there". There's no water where they end up, so thankfully by mid morning, they've done their explorations and they're willing to follow me back to their coop.I actually get a little worried about them venturing that far from the coop but...

I did actually witness one of these ladies eat a mouse, whole. Slurp and gobbled it right up! I guess they can handle their own... I wish I caught that on video. Ha. At least there's something working on the rodent population around here! Haha.

That photo is of the trio following me around. I really love it when they do. I feel special. Ha. This act lets me know that they trust me. What I don't like is when they gather more ladies to follow them around, the other gals aren't as trusting and are very skeptical chickens, unless they're pecking at the seams of ny jeans... lol

This guy, that small little black rooster, has made himself right at home. (Ahem, sorry for the not-so-great-pic!) Up on the top roost with everyone else. He's apparently either learned how to fend off the other roosters, or has learned how to run away. Haha. The one on the far left is a rooster also, Crossbeak, the Silver Laced Wyandotte. That one seems to be doing better. He got beat up pretty bad from little man here, and I noticed him limping earlier in the week, but much less so now. So good. The two ladies standing up, showing off their badonkadonks, the tan one is an Easter Egger and the black and white spotted one is a Cuckoo Marans.

Chicken Egg News

I didn't do a fantastic job recording egg counts this week... I really have to get better about that for... record purposes. In any case, I got around **26 Eggs** this week!

My last Easter Egger started laying today and one more of my Cuckoo Marans (I think), and today, I got SIX EGGS. WOOHOO. One of my Australorps finally started laying again! Thank goodness! Soon we wont have to supplement our farm eggs with store eggs. Haha. We eat a lot of eggs. I eat at least 2 large eggs a day, but with our chicken eggs, they're still so small that we can eat up to four each.

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Quail

Nothing super exciting happening for the quail except the fact that they seem really happy. She is laying almost daily for me! Guess what!? Finally fried up a quail egg and tried it! DE-FREAKING-LICIOUS, Guys! SO GOOD. So much goodness in such a tiny package... Haha.

Quail Egg News

So, as you know, 8 Quail Eggs are in the 'Bator! They were put in on Monday night. So we still have quite a time before they start hatching. But, she has been laying almost every day and this week we got 4 or 5 eggs from her! I am excited now that I've tried them, to eat them while we are incubating the first 8. Haha.

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Gucks

Nothing new on the Guck front. They seem to still be pretty happy with their space. I bought them a ball to play with, but they're still scared of it. I will let you know if they come around.

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Nature Findings

A baby Pygmy Short-Horned Lizard! Is it not the cutest thing you've ever seen!? I have more pics, I will have to do a post on it! I was just watering the trees when I saw this little thing skitter across the dirt! I thought it was a grasshopper or something, but then figured out it was a little baby lizard! Eeeek. It made my day to find that this morning! I squealed with delight for a good part of the day!

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Misc. News

here was a fire about 5 miles outside my nearest city, my friend sent me this image. She lives about 5 miles from where the fire started. The fire started on Tuesday afternoon, caused by man. According to our local Fire Information, it burned 10,529 acres and is now 60% contained. That makes for hmmmmm 4 fires within 20 miles of me, 3 of them within 5 miles, and 1 of those was within 1 mile of my home. Ugh. People need to be better! All but one of these were caused by humans.

This is what it looked like around here Tuesday afternoon from the fire. The fire was about 15-20 miles from here? But the wind was blowing my way! I was worried about the animals having a hard time with the smoke, but it seems that they faired it well.

This fire made me so nervous even though it was so far away and had been somewhat contained. But the prospects of grass fires out here are so high... We really need to figure out a system for if they come to our home. It kept me up the other night, worried. I woke to every slightest noise - just wondering what the hell we would do if it came to us.

We don't have strict plans or precautions in place but it is up there on the nee-to-happen list. We need to be prepared for something like this. I mostly worry about the birds.

The next day, there was a lighting storm, it didn't hit here - fortunately, and unfortunately. Fortunately because it caused 9 more fires about an hour away from here and unfortunately because we could use some rain, badly. In any case, it made a really interesting cloud formation. I just saw the image above but then I looked up and saw this:

Sorry for a sub par pic here, but the only way I could get the whole formation in the camera was with my fish eye lens. But really guys, it WAS a circle of clouds. It was freaking me out! I called out to my roommate, yeah, I probably woke him up, but he came out and was wide eyed also! I was sad to watch the rain pass us right on by.

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That's all for this week! Nothing too terribly exciting. I think this is kind of a slow period for our homestead as it's just too hot to do anything too hard. Haha. Sitting inside with the AC has been something that's been done a lot. ;) haha.

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Check out my most recent Steemit Posts.

• Itsy Bitsy Spider [Funny]
• Meet Reginald
• Eggs are in the 'Bator!
• I Gots Me A Green Eggy!
• #followfriday

Blog Series

• Nature on the Farmstead - These posts will be educational and informative about the nature that happens on my farmstead. Look forward to posts about wild animals, birds, wildflowers and plants, insects, and more!

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As always @farmstead here blogging from FarmsteadSmith!



So, face is doing okay. Been taking 5mg prednisone twice a day since Friday. Skin is still very very dry and now I think just itchy cause it's dry. Pretty annoying. My left eye is much worse than my right. It's still puffy. Been trying to keep it moisturized as best I can. Still kind of annoying on and around my lips. I guess it's getting better. It feels like a really bad sunburn around my eyes. Ugh.

Photos by me using my iPhone 6s, unless stated otherwise!

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Badges by @daddykirbs and @allforthegood!